AAMC Mailing Lists

Pathway, Pipeline, and Bridge Programs (PPB)

Mission

An increasing number of student affairs administrators, admissions officers, and medical educators are working together to develop premedical programs that go beyond the standard partnership of required premedical coursework and student advising. These programs -- sometimes called "pathways," "pipelines," "bridges," or "early assurance" programs -- offer courses, experiential learning opportunities, and additional advising to select groups of premedical students with the goals of both recruiting and preparing promising students for medical school. The mission of the PPB-SIG is to provide a forum for conducting a baseline census of the programs currently in existence, developing consensus documents about the definition and mission of these programs, and laying the groundwork for sharing best practices and conducting research. These activities may inspire improvements in PPB program development, ultimately benefitting students and the medical profession as whole.